have you tried Brian Germain's samurai or Lotus? I jump a sam(haven't tried the lotus yet) now and only when I stuff the nose all the way back into the packjob I get some 6-700f openings onheading all the time. If I leave the nose out and don't do anything with it, I get quicker openings that are all over the place.

I'm not sure what I would buy now if I wanted a new canopy that I felt comfortable with getting out at 2000'.

I'm still a low timer but I have about 60 or so H&Ps from 2100ish. I was using Sabre2s and Nitrons. All opened quickly since they were sub terminal. All were loaded no more than 1.2ish to 1 if that matters.

Not always the case, but many times when a canopy is more dependent on the slider to have a slow opening, the lower airspeed on a subterminal jump can increase the opening speeds. Not always, but for some canopies.

Would you consider French canopies? Parachutes de France actually has some decent models these days. Do not get a Springo, but an Electra is a nice canopy. Have heard (second hand only) good things about the Electra XS (which is an entirely different animal).

I've been pleasantly surprised with the speed my Vision has been opening after jumping mostly Pilots and Sabre2s until now - it's smooth, rather than snivelly, and definitely seems quicker to inflate while still being plenty comfortable.

Disclaimer: I've only jumped this one! And even then, not a whole lot of times yet.

There seems exceptions. My Sabre seems to open just as quickly at subterminal. The slider comes down faster. Also that I am falling slower vertically.

Grabbing while I exit, and then if I throw the PC immediately after I see the plane/tail fully clear, I'm open only 250-300 feet lower than the airplane's altitude. I do that on very low cloudbottom jumps. CRWdogs seem to do exactly the same thing too.

I often snivel longer at terminal than that. I guess the Sabre and my size slider just has its quirky opening behaviours. Normally, I'm open at 600-700 feet from hackey release to fully inflated, sometimes 500.

Of course, if I pull in a track without slowing down -- it's still a slammer.

Subterminal/hop and pop openings take less distance (since you have almost no vertical speed) and sometimes take less time (less speed to shed.) However, they feel MUCH softer, since there is less speed to get rid of. Hence they are often perceived as slower.

Case in point. I once jumped a BASE canopy (FOX) with a mesh slider and 42" PC from a King Air, which is a fast plane on jump run. The opening was hard but not brutal. When it was fully open I looked and saw myself about 20 feet under the plane. Had I jumped it and deployed it at terminal, it would have felt much, much harder but also taken much longer (in distance) to open.

Sabre2 opens just fine when getting out hopnpop or terminal. On mine anyway pulling the slider more in front of the nose (instead of quartering) slows the openings down considerably, though even with a quartered slider they are still a comfortable 500-700 at term. I've bailed out many times at 2000' with either way of stowing slider, and never been scared of a cypres fire, usually have a full canopy by about 1800'.

I'll second the Silhouette. It can be packed for fast or slow openings, but fast or slow...it's a sweet opening canopy. Sparky recommended the Sil for me a couple years back, and I've never regretted it. I've since moved to a Storm and Sabre 2, but have approx 1000 jumps on Silhouettes in various sizes. Super easy to pack too.

Except the spectre I demoed that took 800' to open doing hop and pops from 2000' (due to clouds) Same 800' for terminal openings. No explination but that's what it did. The hop and pops were almost like I had to get speed built up before it would open. Normal hanging nose packing.

You know, after reading this thread, i've noticed something. i get off the train everyday about 3 blocks from the Sears Tower, while having a smoke and looking up at it ( 1200 ft +/- ) and imagining an opening along side of it of an 6-800 ft opening, its down right ugly and frightning,,,,,,,

have you tried Brian Germain's samurai or Lotus? I jump a sam(haven't tried the lotus yet) now and only when I stuff the nose all the way back into the packjob I get some 6-700f openings onheading all the time. If I leave the nose out and don't do anything with it, I get quicker openings that are all over the place.

I just flop the two halves of the nose inwards towards the center on my Samurai 105 and leave it alone. It opens in a reasonable time (as in quicker than the Spectre, Omega, Safire, Crossfire, Diablo, and FX) without being hard like an old Monarch or Sabre (still softer than a Batwing). Nearly always on heading.

Very nice.

I pretty much considered the Samurai what PD would build if they made a Stiletto 2 (the Katana wasn't out yet) and hadn't continued the trend of longer opening times. Control responsiveness was better than modern detuned designs like the Crossfire, pressures were great, and while the recovery arc was more conducive to modern swooping the canopy isn't as ground hungry as an FX.

Brian said parachutes are supposed to open like that. I'd guess that the Lotus would be similar.